Your career pathway

So what’s your area of research?

I’m on the Irish Research Council’s employment based PhD Programme, and I’m working as a research engineer with Sulzer Pump Solutions.

What are the advantages of employment based research?

Being employment based helps me to develop specific skills, such as project management and also specific knowledge such as a good general understanding of the functioning of a company.

What are the practical impacts of your research?

It’s difficult to identify the direct impacts due to the nature of the projects I work on, but the secondary impacts include my participation in an important upcoming industry conference, of which my company is one of the sponsors, which is hugely important in terms of visibility for the company within the industry.

How is your research supported?

I’m supported by the Research Council in terms of project management of my PhD and also academically by my researcher. This translates into long-term and short term benefits. In the sort term, my supervisor is helping me with weekly issues I might have and in the long term he is helping me, along with Sulzer, to develop a plan for my PhD.

What’s the best thing about your research?

I love the challenge, we are working on complex issues and I love bringing new solutions and ideas to address these challenges.